In the field of medicine, it is common practice to administer pharmaceutical agents to a patient for various purposes, such as sedation, pain management, the manipulation of various physiological processes, and so on. Often, the dosage of such agents is monitored via a patient's response to the administered agent. For example, during surgery, a patient may be administered a local or a general anesthetic agent. In situations of general anesthesia, a number of physiological characteristics of the patient may be measured to ensure proper dosage. For example, the patient's heart rate, blood pressure, inspired and expired oxygen, expired carbon dioxide, oxygen saturation in the patient's blood, and similar parameters may be measured. Additionally, in some situations, electroencephalography (EEG) may be performed to measure the patient's consciousness.
Accordingly, a variety of patient responses may be monitored as a result of administering certain agents. Furthermore, while the pharmacokinetics of a particular agent may generally be understood, the rate at which such agents are expelled from the body may vary from patient to patient. Typically, the rates at which certain agents, such as anesthetic agents, are expelled from patients are estimated based upon modeling approaches. For example, such modeling approaches may model the metabolism/expulsion of a certain agent based upon a patient's age, weight, height, gender, and/or other factors. In situations in which a patient is under sedation for extended periods of time, such as during a surgery, the anesthetic agent may be administered in doses according to an output of a model for the particular agent used.